by J. L. Weil
Kai’s face was one of patience, lacking his signature cockiness. “I don’t expect you to do this. Despite what my reputation might suggest, I won’t trap you into being my mate, not like this. I want you to want me of your own accord. In truth, little queen, if you asked, I would gladly trade places with my brother right now because you asked it of me.”
No, I couldn’t do that—ask Kai to switch places with Devyn. I wouldn’t give up one for the other, or vice versa.
“I don’t have the luxury of time,” I reminded. “It’s the one thing we don’t have.”
Reilly’s dragon eyes gleamed in the dimly lit room, animal-like. “No, we don’t. But we do know that Talin will try to summon Kai again. The Unseelie has skills that your uncle won’t want used against him.”
Kai winked, and just like that, his defenses were back up in the form of arrogance and sarcasm. “I’m full of fun surprises.”
I wished more than anything that Devyn was here so he could tell me what to do. On one hand, the warrior in him would not want to give the enemy a weapon to be used against us. On the other hand, the possessive mate would not want to share me. It seemed like this predicament was a double-edged sword. I was damned if I did, and damned if I didn't.
Too many threads dangled, threatening to tangle and knot.
"You actually believe this could work?” I asked, toying with my soul star as I pondered the pros and cons.
“I’m willing to try, to put my faith in you. What’s the worst that can happen?” Kai mused with a midnight smile.
Something low in my belly twisted. “I lose you too,” I whispered, because deep down, I feared fighting alone or just being alone.
The door to the library burst open, and a guard stood on the threshold. His face was pale, his chest heaving as if he had just sprinted from one side of the castle to the other. “Fyson sent me to inform you that Talin and his troops have crossed into Katsura borders,” he panted.
The world stopped.
“How long?” Kai demanded, forking a hand through his golden hair. Every muscle in his body went tight.
“By next nightfall,” the sentinel informed, his voice a tad less breathy.
“Son of a bitch,” Reilly swore as he stood and moved to the hearth.
“It’s happening,” Kai admitted fatefully.
The guard’s gaze slid to me. “We need to prepare the Katsura’s heir for war.”
I took a deep breath. “I’m ready.” The words came out steady and strong, but inside, I quaked.
Chapter Ten
DEVYN
Hood drawn far over my face, a familiar primordial cold seeped into my bones. No, not just my bones. It radiated everywhere, including my head.
We weren’t alone. In the darkness, a cruel and ancient thing paced, weaving in and out of the shadows. No, that wasn’t quite right, because the blight was the darkness. It was the shadows.
And it had been waiting for us.
Allowing Talin to rip me away from Karina had been the hardest decision I’d ever made, although it hadn’t altogether been my choice. I had not realized what was happening until the Lord of Thorndale stood in front of me, his red eyes gleaming at me with wicked delight.
The moment I saw him, I made a choice. I let him leash me with his powers.
It suddenly became so clear. This was what I was meant to do, just as Karina was destined to heal the land. Our paths had intersected, then aligned, and now forked off in different directions but for the same purpose—to save us all.
I tried to take comfort in the knowledge that Kai and Reilly were with her—they would keep her safe, protect her, even if the thought of it boiled my blood. It was my place to be beside her, not theirs, but I would sacrifice it all for my mate.
This was what it meant to be her Shaman and her mate.
Talin welcomed me back into his militia, believing that the oath of servitude I took would keep me loyal to him. Fool. The bond I had with Karina was stronger, and it had snapped my oath to Talin, but the idiot was arrogant enough to think he could enslave me once again. He had done so before, so in his warped mind, he believed his magic was stronger than that forged by love.
The power he unleashed upon me was an invisible prison, giving him the key to use me as a weapon.
Or so he believed.
The truth of it was that I could break free, slap his magic aside as if it was nothing more than a pesky fly buzzing in my head.
Talin waved a hand with fluid grace. On command, the slew of warriors behind him moved, spilling into the darkness.
The blight laughed, welcoming Talin and his men, a haunting sound that came from everywhere.
Talin’s army didn’t march into the blackness in a disciplined or orderly fashion. They ran, swiftly, like blurred streaks of chaos through the dead trees and the barren hills that had once rolled lush and green. The blight slashed alongside them, carving a path straight to the heart of Katsura, with me right in the thick of it.
I blended with the other fae, relishing the cold darkness of Talin’s command as it surged through my blood, mixing with my Shaman powers, morphing and honing them into something heartless, fearless, and lethal.
All things I could be on my own, but Talin’s powers amplified them to frightening levels of danger. It was a dangerous game I played, allowing myself to be controlled, keeping only a silver so small that Talin couldn’t detect my bond with Karina.
If he got a sniff of it, even for a second...
He was a threat to the one thing I cared about in all the worlds, and I’d kill him before I let him touch her. He had come too close before. Never again, I vowed. Never again.
Chapter Eleven
KARINA
I wasn’t ready.
Hell no.
How could I be? War? Me? A girl who grew up in a rural town outside of Seattle, fighting in a fae war. Just when I thought I was getting accustomed to this life, something new came around the corner, yanking me off my feet.
It was as if I never got the chance to find my footing in this world. Perhaps part of the blame was due to me not knowing who I was. That secret had hampered me; it was just another obstacle I had to overcome. However, even if I’d trained, I wasn’t sure it would have made much of a difference. I still would have shifted early. My grandfather still would have been murdered. Talin would have released the blight, and I still would have to fulfill my destiny at an alarming, unheard of rate.
Knowing the truth wouldn’t have made a difference.
A cluster of sentinels dashed past the open library door, jerking me back to the present and my current situation. Dwelling on what might have been would not stop the blight or Talin.
“Tell Fyson she will see him shortly,” Reilly informed the man who had delivered the news of Talin and his army. Without waiting to see if the sentinel carried out his order, Reilly turned his back on him and stared intently into the dying flames crackling in the hearth.
With a nod of his head, the guard left. Once he was gone, I turned to Kai. “Talin is close now and will attempt to make good on that oath. If we are going to try and override the vow you made to him, we need to do it now.”
“She’s right,” Reilly agreed, leaning a shoulder against the stones. “With Talin inside the borders of Katsura, and knowing that he was the one who released the blight into this world, Talin will just be able to walk right up to the front gate of Halcyon. It is safe to assume that the blight won’t stand in his way. The closer he is to you, the harder it will become for you to resist the summons.”
A twitch of Kai’s lips drew my attention. “What are we waiting for? Let’s tie the knot, little queen.”
Holy hell. This is happening. I didn’t know what I would do if it worked. And yet, if it didn’t work, I felt the same way. Lost. Confused. Trapped. Curious, and even loved. How fucked up was that?
Shoving aside those feelings, I turned my weary gaze to Kai. “I should lay out some ground rules if this works, but I don’t have time.
So just promise me one thing, that when this is over and we’ve, by some damn miracle, come out of this alive, that you will honor whatever decision I make regarding our relationship. I don’t know that I can give you what you want from me—what you deserve.”
“We might both end up disappointing the other.” His words were just above a whisper.
I didn’t revel in having that conversation. “You haven’t disappointed me yet. All you’ve done is surprise me, but I need you to know that our bond might not be permanent. I want that to be clear from the start. I won’t lie to you.”
“I’ll take whatever you give me,” he simply said.
Was it his desire not to be enslaved that drove him, or was it his belief that he was my mate what made him willing to take even just a fraction of me?
For a flash, I allowed myself to hate this situation forced upon us. It wasn’t fair. Not to Kai. Not to Devyn, and not to me. Kai deserved a true mate, one who could give herself to him completely, heart, body, and soul. Not some half ass bargain with a girl who had already given her heart, body, and soul to another.
I will treat your heart with care, I vowed.
The Unseelie never came out and said he loved me, only that he had intense feelings. What were those intense feelings? Perhaps he was just as confused as I was in deciphering them.
“Okay, I guess I’m as ready as I’ll ever be.” I stood from the chair and strolled the few steps over to where Kai sat.
His eyes stayed on me, never wavering.
My heart drummed faster and faster through my veins as I paused in front of him, suddenly frozen in place. I couldn’t seem to look away, couldn’t do anything but continue to get lost in the depths of his lapis eyes. This was the point where I would normally shy away from him, put a safe distance between us. The urge was there, edging into my mind.
Are you sure this is wise? A voice rumbled in my head.
As if sensing my internal battle, Kai lifted his hand, wrapping his fingers gently around my wrists. Cool shadows danced along my back and over my shoulder, weaving and fluttering around my neck. The tug on my hand was faint, but my body seemed to know what Kai wanted and I eased down onto his lap, my legs straddling either side of him.
“You have to open yourself up to me, little queen,” he murmured as I settled on his lap.
With a nod, my eyes drifted shut for a moment, and I took a deep breath. Kai’s fingers brushed over the side of my neck, leaving a trail of wintriness in their wake. He leaned forward, pressing a kiss to either side of my lips, not actually sealing our mouths together, but avoiding direct contact.
Flutters stirred in my belly. So much could go wrong…
I knew what he was doing. He was inciting those buried feelings from me, for a mating bond required more than just words for it to work. We had to be genuine in our feelings for each other, and there was no emotion more powerful than passion, besides love.
Licking the corner of my lip, I let my eyes flutter open, and found Kai still gazing at me, watching me as the first taste of him tingled on my tongue. It was like catching a snowflake in my mouth on the first snowfall of the year. Cool. Crisp.
I knew that I loved Kai, I just believed it to be different from how I loved Devyn. Until now I thought it was the same love I had for Hannah and Jesse. Friendship. Yet, with the first touch of his tongue, I realized I’d been fooling myself. Still, I refused to acknowledge my feelings. Refused to believe that I could love more than one man, because in my world, that just wasn’t how things were done. You weren’t supposed to fall in love twice.
His eyes darkened, and he let me see for the first time the intensity of his desire. Kai flirted with me every chance he got, but I assumed he did so to get under Devyn’s skin, to rile him up in that way he seemed to love to do.
But now…
How much he kept hidden from me became clear. The punch of it hit me straight in my stomach, and I gasped, air stalling in my lungs.
Raw need blazed from his stormy eyes when his hands clasped either side of my hips, fingers spanning over the curves of my ass. He held me in place as if he sensed the small voice whispering inside me, beseeching me to run.
Kai was in love with me.
Reilly cleared his throat, the small noise barely audible over the need pulsing inside of me. “Whatever you do, don’t shift. Stay in your human form. Do whatever you can to keep the fox within you at bay,” he warned.
Until he spoke, I had forgotten the dragon shifter was still in the room with us.
Focusing on his advice, I came to the understanding that it was the Kitsune’s voice who kept invading my thoughts. I had to clear her from my head, but the fox and I had been one for so long now, that I had nearly forgotten what it was to be just human—to be just a girl.
For Kai’s sake, I prayed that I could find my way back to the shred of humanity that remained inside me. It had been too long since I’d been here.
Nodding, I swallowed. My gaze returned to Kai’s, but before my eyes met his, his body stiffened underneath me. A tremble of unease flicked over me.
Something was wrong.
My blood turned to ice, transforming the coolness that came naturally from Kai into something darker. I searched his eyes, fearing the worst. An emptiness stared back at me, lacking his snarky light. His eyes were blank as he stared straight ahead, not seeing me.
“Kai?” I whispered, touching the side of his cheek.
Without blinking, he opened his mouth. “He’s here. In my head. I can feel him.” The dull, even tone of his voice sent shivers through me.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
Were we too late? Would Talin take him from me while I watched, unable to do anything to stop him? Just when I realized that Kai was so much more than a friend to me—that I needed him as much as I needed Devyn?
No! I would not let that bastard take him.
Not today. Not tomorrow. Never. He’d taken enough from me.
“Hurry,” Reilly rushed, his tone full of urgency.
“I don’t know what to do!” I barked back, looking to Reilly for answers as I sat there, feeling helpless and wrecked inside all that same time. Panic made me forget everything. With Devyn, it hadn’t been a conscious choice. It had been that fae part of me, my fox, guiding me, taking control. She knew what to do, but I couldn’t lean on her, not if I wanted to mate with Kai.
And if I did remember what to do, a mating bond wasn’t a one-sided event. Kai needed to be just as present and willing as I was. This was a bond solidified with strong emotions, a connection of the heart and the soul.
Reilly pushed off the wall. “Don’t just say the words, mean them. You don’t have the canines to bite him, humans don’t have them.”
Kai’s hands fisted against my ass, and I tore my gaze from Reilly’s to check on him. “Can humans even mate with fae?”
“Yes. Kai’s bite will cement the bond,” Reilly assured. “But you need his blood as well.
Under me, Kai’s muscles flinched. My fae canines would have pierced his skin easily, but my human teeth... not so much. “But this only works if we are truly mates.”
“Yes,” the dragon shifter informed.
Christ, this was a huge gamble. I didn’t want to think about it not working, and at the same time, what would I do if it did?
“I can hold him off, but not for long,” Kai ground out, his voice strained with concentration as his brow furrowed from pain. He was looking at me now, his gaze clearer than it had been.
Words! I have to say the words. My brain scrambled. They weren’t specific words that magically created the bond. It was the meaning behind them, the commitment to each other, the sacrifices we were willing to make.
I lifted my hand, sliding it to the back of Kai’s neck, where I knew the mark burned. Praying to all the fucking fae gods, I tangled my fingers into his hair.
At my touch, the shadows returned to his eyes, and I took that as a good sign. We just needed a few moments to rid Kai of Talin for good. S
o, I continued touching him while I found my voice, and watched those deep blue eyes shift into a color as dark as night.
His fingers behind me tightened, pulling my body deeper against his, and something lower in my belly clenched. Strings of desire weaved inside me, threading and tangling around my heart. My left hand joined the right at the nape of his neck, and just that tiny movement caused friction between our bodies. It was barely a wiggle at all, but enough that I felt the hardness in his pants press into the center between my legs, which ignited the dark flames in his eyes.
I found such beauty in his Unseelie magic. Don’t get me wrong, Kai wasn’t hard on the eyes. He was incredibly good looking, but the fae in general were blessed with gorgeous physical features. Still, something about his shadow magic captivated me.
“As much as I’d like to take my time with you, we don’t have all night,” he breathed, gaze darting to my lips.
The velvetiness of his voice sent my heart pattering into overdrive. “You are mine, Kai.” Our bond was built on a rocky friendship, rollercoaster trust, and mixed feelings, and yet, in my soul, I knew this was true. Kai and I were supposed to be connected. I understood that dark part of him, accepted it, accepted him with all his flaws.
His lips twisted. “Your dreams, your desires, your tears, and your pains are all mine. You are mine, little queen, as I am yours.” Kai’s fingers grasped on my chin, angling my head to the side so my neck was exposed.
Underneath that cool, polished exterior, was a beast waiting to be set free. Devyn was my protector; he was gentle yet fierce in his affections for me. But Kai…?
He would take and take, and demand even more.
I should have been scared of the deep and profound desire glimmering in his eyes. A smart girl would have been, and rightly so, but I’d already proven that I didn’t back down from a challenge easily.
Shadows danced and fluttered around the room, sweeping over the flickering flames and hearth, extinguishing all light. The room burst into smooth darkness.
